Wide-bodied commercial jet aircraft are subject to critical damage to the passenger compartment floor as a result of a large hole made (by any means such as inflight explosion or collision) in a lower cargo compartment while the airplane cabin and cargo compartments are at a high pressure differential with the outside atmospheric air pressure. Upon rapid decompression of the lower cargo compartment, severe down loads are placed on the passenger floor due to the air pressure above the floor. The air above the floor cannot escape rapidly into the cargo compartment as the passenger compartment floor is normally made as a sealed floor due to air conditioning requirements, appearance, keeping below-floor noise from entering the cabin, and keeping spilled liquids from entering the cargo compartment. Consequently, because of this pressure differential, structural damage to the floor and nearby components, controls and systems may occur, with even the safety of the aircraft placed in jeopardy.
In regulating the pressure differential between containers or compartments, the use of valves probably would occur to one skilled in the art. However, the use of valves to compensate for a sudden change in pressure between upper and lower compartments of an aircraft is impractical because of the limited valve area through which fluid must flow at a high rate for instantaneous pressure compensation. Moreover, the delay in valve opening is too great, requiring too much time to equalize the pressures.